Injuries, inconsistencies and roster moves: Fever hope for smoother path after 'roller coaster' first half

Indianapolis Star

7 days ago

INDIANAPOLIS – Halfway through the 2025 WNBA season, the Indiana Fever haven't been able to find any consistency.
A new coaching staff has had to deal with a seemingly ever-changing roster. The Fever haven't had a full roster at their disposal for most of the season, save for two games in late May. Even then, they didn't have Aari McDonald, who has quickly become a vital part of their team.
Other than those two games, they've had injuries, hardship necessities, other players and coaches out for personal reasons and players away for international commitments. They've consistently had only 10 available players, even dropping down to nine recently during a brutal stretch of games.
'It's been a roller coaster,' Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell said. 'Peaks and valleys, injuries, switching team personnel. It's just a lot of stuff that's happened. I think that's part of being a professional athlete. I don't think it gets any different, but I think that you need to go through things like this to be one of the teams that they talk about during the end of the season. Gotta go through tough (expletive) in order to figure out what you need.'
Indiana opened the season with just 11 players (one shy of the limit) because of salary cap restrictions, and a preseason injury to Sophie Cunningham made the Fever even more short-handed.
Then Fever star Caitlin Clark got injured, straining her quad at some point during the New York game May 24 (she couldn't pinpoint a specific moment she felt the strain happened), and was ruled out for at least two weeks.
A few games later, Cunningham re-aggravated her ankle injury. That put Indiana below the hardship threshold of 10 available players, and they were able to sign McDonald to a hardship contract.
After just over two weeks with Cunningham and Clark out, both returned June 13 against the New York Liberty. With their returns, the Fever had to release McDonald per WNBA rules.
At that point, DeWanna Bonner, one of the Fever's marquee additions in the offseason, was away from the team for personal reasons. Bonner remained away from the team for five games and was eventually waived June 25 as she felt like she could not find a good fit with the Fever's offensive scheme.
The Fever re-signed McDonald to a standard contract after cutting ties with Bonner, allowing her to be on the roster for the rest of the season.
But they weren't quite a full squad yet.
Backup center Damiris Dantas left the team June 25 for an overseas commitment, playing in the FIBA AmeriCup with the Brazilian National Team. She missed five games, including the Commissioner's Cup championship, while she led Brazil to a silver medal.
At the same time, Clark suffered a groin injury. She missed those same five games as Dantas, putting Indiana down to nine available players for a stretch of five games in nine days.
Indiana, even with just nine players, actually found a groove during that stretch, winning the Commissioner's Cup over league-leading Minnesota (and $30,000 each) as part of a three-game winning streak. They also took down the Aces for the first time since 2019.
'I think that everyone saw that we kind of got some flow when Cait was hurt and our offense was clicking, but now we have to have a new offense when she's in there, because she just brings that much to the game, and so we have to adjust,' Cunningham said. 'And I think all of us just want it now. We know what the potential of this team can be, but we can't think about that. You really have to take it day-to-day and stuff that worked here, we need to carry it over.'
Indiana has hit another roadblock, though, with a deflating last-second loss to Los Angeles to break its winning streak. They couldn't find continuity in Clark and Dantas' first game back, either, suffering a 19-point loss to Golden State on July 9.
The Fever, with all of their roster changes and injuries, have been a work in progress. For a bit, the Fever had their full roster for the first time.
'(July 10) was the first time that we've had all of our roster,' Fever coach Stephanie White said. 'So we haven't had any consistency there. We haven't had everybody on the floor in a practice in a long time. And so I think we just have to take micro-steps into building that they can't just be talking about, that we've got to build it on the floor.'
Indiana hit yet another snag when Clark exited the Fever's game against the Sun in the final seconds on July 15, holding her groin. Clark was ruled out of Indiana's game against New York after imaging on her groin, and White said she is considered "day-to-day." Clark also pulled out of the 3-point contest and All-Star Game in order to prioritize her rest.
Indiana has been able to stay afloat, hovering around .500, but haven't been able to make the splash most were anticipating ahead of the 2025 season. The Fever are 12-11 and sit sixth in the playoff standings.
And, with or without Clark on the court, they know they don't have very much time left to make that mark.
'We're running out of time, to be honest,' Cunningham said. 'And I think that it's going to light a fire under our butts. So hopefully you'll see kind of that energy shift.'